Fabio Capello’s resignation dominated the day. James Sharman & Kristian Jack give their take on England’s new dilemma.

Kristian chats with TFC manager Aron Winter about the Best XI he ever played with or against.

James chats with Toronto Maple Leaf players Carl Gunnarsson & John-Michael Liles about their soccer obsessions, Liverpool & Man Utd, respectively.

It’s your segment, ‘Avin It or Not ‘Avin It.

Missed THE FOOTY SHOW tonight? Catch the replay at 11pm EST or Thursday at 12:30pm & 3pm EST.

It may be ironic, considering Brandon Vera’s beef with Thiago Silva stems from the Brazilian failing a post-fight drug test after their UFC 125 bout, but “The Truth” says he once considered taking performance enhancing drugs.

He made the revelation today while speaking to Mauro Ranallo on The MMA Show.

“Yes, the thought has crossed my mind. The only reason I didn’t do it was because I didn’t want to disappoint anyone, I didn’t want to win because of PEDs, and because I’m scared of needles,” Vera said. “I thought about it after my facial reconstruction following the Jon Jones fight, probably more for healing properties. I wanted to level the playing field — I’m not saying Jones is on anything — but it just crossed my mind.”

Again, it’s quite the paradox to hear this from Vera if you know his history with Silva. The two clashed at UFC 125, and after being thoroughly beaten down over the course of three rounds, Vera lost a unanimous decision. As it was his third loss in a row, the UFC decided to sever ties with the veteran.

But ‘the truth’ was soon revealed. Silva had falsified his urine sample to hide the illegal steroids he had taken to help out his ailing back, and after the Nevada State Athletic Commission suspended Silva for a year and changed the fight to a no contest, Vera was reinstated by the UFC.

According to Vera, he felt something was fishy during the fight.

“That fight was just annoying as hell. When were on the feet, it was like poetry of motion, but as soon as he grabbed me it felt like a whole other thing. He played bongos on my back while he was holding me down like a gorilla,” the light heavyweight said. “When I got home everyone kept asking what went wrong, and my answer was always, ‘That dude was strong as shit.’ I couldn’t move. I felt like a little boy being held down. I roll with everybody — the Nogeuira brothers, Phil Davis, Travis Browne — and I never had anyone hold me down like that except when I was in the sixth grade and an eighth grader held me down. It’s frustrating and it’s something I want back.”

An immediate rematch didn’t happen because of Silva’s suspension, and Vera was instead booked to fight Eliot Marshall at UFC 137 in a ‘loser-leaves-the-Octagon’ kind of match. Vera won the fight via a controversial decision, but tore a ligament in his arm (a ‘Tommy John’ kind of separation, he says) when Marshall put him in an armbar in the last minute of the fight.

Vera hasn’t competed since, but last week word broke that he was set to return in a rematch against Silva in the main event of UFC on FX 3 this May in Vera’s home state of Virginia. When he got the call, he was pumped to take the fight.

“That is THE fight that I want. Out of my whole UFC career, I want that fight more than any other fight I’ve ever had. I want to fight Thiago so bad,” Vera said. “I’ve been harping my manager and Joe Silva that ‘When that motherfucker is available, I want his ass, I want him.’ After I got the phone call saying I could fight Thiago in Virginia, which is a homecoming for me, I went to get cleared by my surgeon — I don’t remember what I said to him, but what I came out of the discussion with was that I could fight May 15. So I told Joe Silva and my manager Matt Stencil that ‘I’m in, the fight’s on, my doctor cleared it, I just have to clear it with my team of phsyical therapists.’”

The only problem was Vera’s arm hasn’t fully healed yet, and when he told the physical therapists he needed to be cleared for May 15, they collectively asked “of what year?”

Vera admits he may have rushed things.

“I jumped the gun and pride got the better of my judgement when I heard Virginia and Thiago and I said yes,” he said. “I was just so pumped that I said ‘Yeah.’ That day at the physical therapy appointment they had me do basic exercises like pushups and I couldn’t do them. I’m not ready yet.”

When Vera does return, though, expect much improvement over the last time he was in the Octagon. By his own admission, Vera hasn’t been training up to his capabilities for a while, and he’s paid for it by nearly losing his job with the UFC.

“I stopped training. I didn’t do the things that got me to the UFC,” he said. “I prepared my whole life for this not to happen. But when it really does happen, it’s like hitting the lottery, winning $300 million, and then going broke a few years later. I had to learn the lesson the hard way.”

But with the love and support of his wife Kerry, a professional women’s MMA fighter currently signed to Strikeforce, as well as the rest of his teammates and coaches at Alliance MMA, Vera says he’s turned the corner and will finally live up to the potential so many see in him.

“I’m doing everything now that got me to the UFC, to the retarded workouts on my own, to getting up at 3 am and running because I’m worried the other guy is running. I want to win again, I want to hurt people again, and I want to crush people’s dreams in the Octagon,” he said. “I had to ask myself how bad I really wanted it when Elliot put me in the armbar and I decided I wasn’t going to tap. In that split half-second, I knew I wasn’t going to tap and that I needed to fix (my career). It was the only thing comforting me when my arm popped. I’ve been fired, my heart’s been broken, so let’s get it together and make life easy again.”

And so Vera has been working as hard as he can lately — jokingly saying he’s changed his diet by replacing “ice cream with protein shakes” — and guarantees the results will show the next time he steps into the cage.

“For my last couple of fights, I just trained to get in shape. I was relying on the skills I’ve already had in the bank, but that’s not MMA anymore,” Vera said. “I just became one of those guys who got in shape, got in there, and fought. Now I’m trying to become the best MMA fighter I can be. MMA’s always evolving and I feel like a white belt again. It’s fun again, I’m learning, and I want to go to the gym and train all the time. This is how it should have always been. When I get back into the Octagon, you guys will see what’s really been going on.”

As for a final message to his rival Silva, or anyone else who tries to fight him on the juice?

“I don’t give a damn if you use steroids,” he said. “I’m not buff — I’m in between Phil Davis and Roy Nelson — but I’m going to whoop your ass when we fight so I don’t care what you’re on.”

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Somehow we’ve gone five days without a Peyton Manning post, which feels like at least three weeks in Manning time. Yes, Manning time is a real thing now. We’re functioning solely by Manning’s clock as we walk into the abyss that is the 2012 offseason.

And that clock isn’t exactly moving quickly.

Bob Kravitz is a prominent, well-connected reporter from the Indianapolis Star who’s followed Manning throughout his career in Indy. Kravitz spoke to Tony Kornheiser on his ESPN radio show Tuesday, and he said that he knows some of the people who’ve seen Manning throw, and those people haven’t relayed glowing reports.

Via Pro Football Talk:

“I know some of the people that have seen him throw. They say he’s not throwing like an NFL quarterback yet. That doesn’t mean he never will.  This thing is going to take time. Structurally, he’s sound. Structurally, he can take a hit.”

Kravtiz also dropped the dreaded “noodle arm” label, meaning that at this point the velocity of the ball when it’s released from Manning’s arm is on par with the velocity it would have if it was possible for a cooked spaghetti noodle to throw a football. Sadly, that noodle would still complete more passes than Tim Tebow.

When a quarterback is given that title, there are usually gasps in the room, followed by the sound of scouts and/or general managers erasing the QB’s name from a sheet of either potential draft picks or free agents. But this isn’t just your average mid-tier free agent or draft prospect. This is Peyton Manning, and although he’s ready to absorb physical contact and would be in no long-term health danger if Ray Lewis came unblocked and creamed him, his recovery process is still a delicate one.

Actually, it’s beyond delicate. Far beyond. Manning and his agent or father can keeping slipping lines to the mainstream media, but we have no idea if Manning’s arm will ever return to its MVP form.

Yet even as we sit right now in early February and we can’t confidently say what kind of arm Manning will have in August or September, columns begging owners to do everything in their power to secure this franchise-saving veteran are being written by respected columnists. And when the Cardinals hire a new wide receivers coach, a noted insider is sure to tack on the convenient fact that the hire is also Manning’s former QB coach.

There are plenty of hints, nods, and nudges of both the gentle and not-so-gentle variety, and the glimmer of this likely free agent prize could far exceed the gains.

Given the availability of several left handed bats on the free agent market, presumably at a reduced price this late into the off season, the Yankees are likely unconcerned with getting a return on a trade involving a starting pitcher, at least in comparison with such a move freeing up salary that can then be used to buy a Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui or Raul Ibanez type player.

I previously compared Burnett’s situation in New York to the circumstances in which Carlos Zambrano found himself with the Chicago Cubs earlier this off season. If you’re capable of remembering all the way back to the beginning of the new year, the Cubs managed to move Zambrano to the Miami Marlins in exchange for his replacement in the rotation, Chris Volstad. However, such a deal was only achieved through Chicago’s willingness to pay the Marlins $16.45 million of the $18 million that Zambrano is owed for the 2012 season.

The Yankees will be hoping for more salary relief than that to come from any trade involving Burnett, and presumably they’d be willing to forgo the semblance of a useful return to facilitate it. Nonetheless, with $16.5 million owed to Burnett for each of the next two years, along with a no trade clause that allows him to block deals to a third of the teams in the Majors, he isn’t exactly the type of extraneous asset that’s easily traded.

Nonetheless, there should be a market for his services. Over the last two years Burnett has had inflated ERAs (that is to say his xFIP and SIERAs were lower) above five while still pitching close to 200 innings per season. In 2011, he was in the top third of the league among qualified starters for ground ball rate and strike out rate, and despite a high walk rate, Burnett’s strike out to walk ratio is similar to that of Gio Gonzalez’s.

Of course, no one would dare suggest that the salary due Burnett over the next two years is a good deal. In fact, the right handed starter has been a completely miserable signing for the Yankees over the first three years of his contract, offering the team $28.2 million worth of value for the actual price of $49.5 million. However, if the Yankees are willing to eat $20 million of the $33 million remaining on his deal, Burnett could pitch exactly as he had over the last two seasons (the two worst of his career), and still be a worthwhile addition to a team in which he wouldn’t be blocking a younger pitcher with higher upside from entering the rotation.

MLB Trade Rumors has brought up the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics and Pittsburgh Pirates as potential landing spots for Burnett. All four of these teams have good reason to be interested. However, I wonder if another team that wouldn’t immediately spring to mind might be in a better place to properly use Burnett.

It appears as though the San Francisco Giants will start the season with Barry Zito as their fifth starter. There’s more to my argument, but let’s pause here to let that sink in.

Okay, ready to continue?

While Burnett was able to get back to where he once was in inducing ground balls last season, his home run rate has grown for three years straight.

Looking at his increasing inability to keep the ball in the park and considering the park factors at AT&T Park in San Francisco, and suddenly regression isn’t the only thing that would be expected to lower Burnett’s insanely high 17% HR/FB rate from last year.

Burnett proved last season that he’s still able to induce swinging strikes and minimize good contact as his numbers returned to career norms after a brief vacation during his second year in a Yankees uniform. To me, that suggests that the stuff which has drawn him Nuke Laloosh comparisons throughout his years in the big leagues is still present. With the Giants, Burnett could easily finish out the final two years of his contract as a three wins above replacement pitcher.

Including the money owed to Aaron Rowand, the team’s final payroll will most likely end up at something close to the $130 million that San Francisco’s front office was talking about as early as November. While the Burnett addition would push the Giants over budget, it would be for a deal for which even Brian Sabean couldn’t overpay.

“I can’t answer that. If I answer that, I’ll get fined.” — Stephen Jackson, when asked if he wanted to be in Milwaukee

Tomorrow afternoon the NHL is going to go ahead and make it official: the 2013 Winter Classic will be played between the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs at the University of Michigan’s “Big House.” But that’s not all. There’s also going to be a second press conference from Comerica Park, which will also be involved in the festivities.

The only thing that will actually be at The Big House will be The Big Game (the actual Winter Classic), while Comerica Park will be host to a whole sackful of other games. More on Comerica in a bit.

To gain access to The Big House, the NHL had to clear a few hurdles – they needed the votes of the regents, they needed a liquor license (the University doesn’t serve alcohol at their football games), and they needed to come to financial terms.

The latter was no problem – the NHL is renting the football field for one day for a cool three million dollars, a price the University needed them to get to. The last University of Michigan football game is November 17th, so they needed a good number to make bringing a dormant facility back to life worth it to the school (apparently the NHL also offered to donate to the University’s scholarship fund to make things a touch more appealing too).

As a non-profit, the University apparently has 12 one-day liquor licenses at their disposal, so once all the paperwork for that was sorted out, another problem was taken care of. And, the regents approved everything unanimously, so…hello Winter Classic in Michigan.

Comerica’s role in the whole deal is actually a little bit more involved than all of that. Sean Leahy of Puck Daddy included a quote from Chuck Pleiness of the Macomb Daily detailing the Park’s role in the festivities:

Comerica Park will host an American Hockey League game between the Grand Rapids Griffins and Toronto Marlies, the minor league affiliates of the Wings and Leafs.

It will also be the site of the Great Lakes Invitational, along with two Ontario Hockey League games and numerous high school and youth games.

Michigan and Michigan State will be two of the GLI teams. Three OHL teams — the Plymouth Whalers, Saginaw Spirit and Windsor Spitfires — have already been confirmed.

Comerica could also host the alumni game between the Wings and Leafs.

This event has turned into one big, complicated money-printing machine for the NHL. It’s starting to span more days and make more money than I ever thought possible, and you know what? That’s a good thing.

For fans, it’s a great experience. For players, it’s a great experience. For the local region, it’s a huge financial plus. And of course, the whole deal is nothing but gravy for the League. There’s really nobody involved that loses, and that’s why it does so well.

So there you have it: the Detroit Red Wings vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs in the University of Michigan’s Big House.

What do you think – did the NHL do everything right for next year’s event?

DUD OF THE WEEK! DUD OF THE WEEK! DUD OF THE WEEK!! Ahem, sorry guys, just trying to start a cool chant. That’s not how chants work? Got it.

Monday Night Raw made this week’s D.O.W. pretty easy for me. When I was watching the 6 pack challenge featuring Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, Chris Jericho, CM Punk, The Miz and R-Truth, I was left clenching my teeth when I saw Truth leap out of the ring, Miz leapt out of his way, and Truth smacked the back of his head on the mats surrounding the ring. It looked awful! Clearly it was a move that went wrong and landed the wrong way, hard, on his head. It’s always a risk when performing as a WWE Superstar. We don’t need another Sin Cara incident. But it’s also up to the other guys in the ring to be there and make sure these manoeuvres are executed properly. So today I’ve got to point my finger at The Miz for this one. He wasn’t in the right spot and he reacted poorly and jumped out of the way, not helping to break Truth’s fall.

Luckily the medical staff in the WWE was able to get Ron Killings out of the match and treat him properly. Also good thing he is doing okay according to Joey Styles twitter account;

@JoeyStyles – Breaking News! Somehow, @RonKillings is OK and has no injuries after flipping over the top rope, missing @MikeTheMiz and hitting the floor.

Fewf! Last thing we want is for Little Jimmy to actually get got. Am I right guys?!

Welp, I’m gonna call that my time here on this handsome little blog and go Google pictures of Undertaker after he shaved his head. Cool stuff right?

BYE!

@reneepaquette

Not to worry Footy Show faithful, we didn’t forget today was Wednesday. This edition of ‘Take Your Kick’ was dominated by the shocking news that Fabio Capello had resigned as England manager, just minutes before we jumped in the studio.

We got to a slew of questions from the footballing world though, and JT was already going to be a topic of conversation. TFC and Canadian National Team defender Adrian Cann joined us in studio and had quite a few laughs with James Sharman, Kristian Jack and Thomas Dobby who did whatever they could to earn the most meaningless points from Dunlop. Follow @AdrianCann on twitter.

Steve Kean’s successful future at Ewood Park, the MLS schedule, Neymar’s century mark at the age of 20 and even our long time celebrity crushes were discussed.

Listener discretion is advised. The David Seaman movie collection has a few more titles…sorry.

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“It’s probably some contract issues, maybe some posturing — I know I was (posturing) this week, trying to leverage certain things here and there. That’s a fight they definitely want — they contested it, they were the first ones saying they wanted a rematch, they were the ones saying Carlos didn’t win. For us it’s a no-brainer and it’s really the only fight out there for us right now considering Georges St-Pierre is on a long layoff. If the fight’s not happening, it’s not on our end. Everything will be ironed out Friday, but as of right now Carlos spoke to Dana White and said he would fight Nick. That’s where we’re at right now.”

- Malki Kawa to Mauro Ranallo on The MMA Show

Also appearing on today’s MMA Show Podcast:

• Firas Zahabi, trainer of Georges St-Pierre
• Mike Winkeljohn, trainer of Carlos Condit
• Brandon Vera, UFC light heavyweight
• Yves Edwards, UFC lightweight

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50. Baltimore chokes at Gillette: It seemed like every NFL playoff game came down to the wire, but the biggest heartbreaker might have come in Foxborough, where Lee Evans dropped a potential game-winning touchdown moments before Billy Cundiff did his best Ray Finkle impression by hooking the hell out of a game-tying field goal:

49. Sam Hurd gets in extremely hot water: Late in the season, the Bears receiver was arrested and slapped with federal drug charges for allegedly distributing large quantities of marijuana and cocaine. How large? He allegedly told an informant that that he needed 5-10 pounds of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana every week.

48. Marshawn Lynch revives his career: We thought Lynch deserved the league’s comeback player of the year award. The former first-round pick had toiled in quite anonymous fashion for much of his career before busting out in 2011. He went over 100 yards six times in an eight-game span, and at one point scored at least one touchdown in 10 straight affairs.

47. Patrick Peterson becomes the NFL’s new clutch returner: As a blue-chip prospect out of LSU, Peterson’s return skills were only considered to be an added bonus on his résumé. But as a rookie, Peterson was a game-changing return man. He tied an NFL single-season record with four punt return touchdowns, with three of those essentially being the difference between a win and a loss. The most impressive of those returns came in walk-off fashion against St. Louis:

46. James Harrison is finally suspended for an illegal hit: It finally happened. Harrison became the first player in NFL history to be suspended for a helmet-to-helmet hit after nearly decapitating Colt McCoy in Week 14. The NFL, which is trying to clamp down on illegal hits by threatening stiffer punishments, went from fine territory to banning Harrison for one game without pay. And was it ever fitting that Harrison was the first major victim of the league’s crusade…

In some of the great discussion that followed got me thinking about Colby Rasmus’ at bats. Certainly waving at change ups isn’t good for business but there must be a deeper meaning behind his inability to make do with faded changes away. I think the reason for this struggle is simple: he has backfoot slideritis.

Backfoot slideritis effects even our most prolific sluggers. The “book” on Jose Bautista is he is vulnerable to the power sliders of big, hard-throwing left-handed pitchers thrown down and in. With all given small sample size alerts in mind, his lack of success against a pitcher like CC Sabathia speaks to the gigantic Yankee ace’s ability to exploit such a hole. There you go, world: all you need to get Jose Bautista is one of the top four pitchers in baseball. Make sure he is left-handed and throws an 88 mph slider. You’re set.

Colby Rasmus is not Jose Bautista but my memory seems to contain multiple examples of similar backfoot sliders tying him up in knots. Like any good nerd, I wanted to see if this was true. Turns out, it is!

Courtesy of ESPN Stats & Info

Using Texas Leaguer’s information, it doesn’t appear the volume of sliders thrown Rasmus’ way increased terribly. We can see, from right-handers especially, the location shifted inward. How did young Colby fare with this adjustment from the righties of the world? Not so well.

Courtesy of ESPN Stats & Info

Striking! Not exactly a positive trend for Blue Jays fans, is it? That’s a .149 wOBA against sliders in 2011 compared to a .342 wOBA against the slide piece in 2010.

Now imagine you’re Colby Rasmus. You’re slumping. You are behind in the count because, as Jon Hale noted in the comments of Parkes’ post, you can’t do to fastballs what you once could. You see a pitch, looks down the middle-ish. You ID offspeed. But which offspeed pitch is it?

/ends in tears

In 2011, Colby Rasmus saw changeups early in the count, most frequently in 1-0 or 0-1 counts. As the at bat grows longer, Rasmus seems more and more sliders from righties. 17% of the pitches throw to Rasmus with two strikes are sliders, second only to four seam fastballs. Rasmus falls behind, is set off-balance by a change up and often fooled by the slider.

The important, non-mechanical question for Rasmus in 2012 – can he adjust to this common approach used against him? Can he improve physically to where he is able to either do something with these early-count changeups or lay off the tough sliders down and in?

A better physical approach to attacking the baseball goes a long way. Using the whole field, all that good stuff, isn’t possible if Rasmus is all in his own way. Better body, better mind, and all the talent are in the world all work in Colby’s favor. The devious breaking balls of American League pitchers will certainly do their worst to prevent Rasmus from reaching his potential. The league adjusted to Colby, now Colby must adjust to the league. It’s part of being a big leaguer. Like most things: easier said than done.

As we said more than a month ago, this year’s Rising Stars challenge will feature a draft from a pool of rookies and sophomores. And just like I predicted, Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley are the GMs who will be picking the two teams. The pool of draft eligible players was released today, which means we finally have a chance to break down the most likely scenarios for the upcoming draft.

We’ll assume Barkley gets the first pick because he’s been on “Inside the NBA” longer and that the draft will proceed in a serpentine fashion.

1. Barkley — Blake Griffin: Not only is Griffin the best player available, he’s also one of the guys that Charles has definitely heard of.
2. Shaq — Ricky Rubio: The most fun name to say, for sure, so a definite O’Neal target.
3. Shaq — DeMarcus Cousins: Shaq has a soft spot for big guys who look kind of chubby.
4. Barkley — John Wall: Another guy who Charles Barkley probably knows.
5. Barkley — Greg Monroe: He’s tall, so OK.
6. Shaq — Gordon Hayward: A versatile scorer who Shaq thinks would look funny when he makes them dance.
7. Shaq — Kyrie Irving: Doesn’t fill a need for Team Shaq, but it will allow the GM to wiggle his eyebrows like he found an uncovered gem.
8. Barkley — Landry Fields: He starts for the Knicks, so he must be good, right?
9. Barkley — Evan Turner: “No seriously Kenny, he’s been better this year.”
   
10. Shaq — Kemba Walker: Shaq remembers he won a National Championship in college, so takes him because “I only care about winning.”
11. Shaq — Derrick Williams: Just so he can yell “RUBIOOOOO!” again.
12. Barkley — Brandon Knight: Charles doesn’t know much about him, but it says PG next to his name so whatever.
13. Barkley — Paul George: Big-time slip for the Pacers wingman, mostly because the two GMs accidentally skipped over his name
14. Shaq — Kawhi Leonard: The steal of the draft, and another prime eyebrow-wiggling moment for The Big Picker.
15. Shaq — Tristan Thompson: Once again, rather than analyzing the pick, Shaq just wiggles his eyebrows.
16. Barkley — MarShon Brooks: “Whoever that guy is.”
17. Barkley — Markieff Morris: Charles calls him “Markeith” but everyone knows who he’s talking about and kind of expected it, really.
18. Shaq — Tiago Splitter: He’s the non-famous foreign player, so this is destiny.

I’m not saying this is how the draft is going to shake out, but this is what the insiders are telling me. Stay tuned to this space for important updates as information changes.

Today on The Whiteboard we’ll look at the rotation teams use to kill off a 5-on-3 powerplay. The rotation is very simple on paper, but obviously gets a little harder on the ice. That whole “having less guys” thing means you have to do everything perfectly to get a stop.

For starters, let’s take a look at the most common offensive 5-on-3 formation teams use on the two-man advantage. This is where everyone starts:

The offense has skated in and set up, which is insanely easy to do on a 5-on-3. With the right d-man having the puck, the forward fronts the shot and stays in the shooting lane. Now, the rotation.

If the puck goes D-to-D across the top, the forward drops down, the defenseman on the (new) puck side moves up to front the shot, and the other defenseman slides over to take the open spot. Because the forward slides down to play the role of a defenseman, it’s not uncommon to see coaches use three d-men when killing a 5-on-3. So, pretty simple so far:

Now, when a defenseman drags the puck to the middle or all the way across the top (a common play to cause confusion – usually his partner will go behind him in a switch and load up for a shot), that defensive d-man will continue to front him all the way across, and not much changes. (The low d-man has to be ready to come out and block the shot if they do execute a one-timer, so he may cheat up a little more than what I’ve shown.)

Now let’s say he moves the puck low…

The low guy on the puck side has one job: that pass across to the backdoor CANNOT happen. Seriously, that “F” in our case should just lie down. With that pass being his job, that means the pass to the slot is the job of the weak-side d-man. The d-man who’s high here keeps a stick in the passing lane to the slot, but stands in the shooting lane of the defenseman he was previously fronting in case of a one-timer.

Obviously the d-man in the slot is aware of the danger of a backdoor pass, as is the goalie, so it’s not entirely on the one dude…but most of it is.

The majority of a powerplay from the offensive side is just trying to get those three guys moving, and trying to catch someone out of position. If not, there’s always someone to pass to – you do have extra humans and all.

By passing it back-and-forth up top, you make the guys on the outside of the pulley go up-and-back, up-and-back, and the d-man down low go over-and-back, over-and-back, and it’s usually somewhere during their transition where you can make a few one-touch passes like high-to-low-to-the-slot, or high-to-low-to-backdoor. As the killers get more tired, obviously there are more openings, and you’re basically stationary, so you feel pretty fresh.

If you can keep things nice and tight with good sticks in the passing lanes, killing a 5-on-3 isn’t an impossibility.

But when things start to break down – maybe a guy losses a puck battle in the corner, or someone blows a clearing attempt – an NHL team on offense will cash in every time.

These words reported by something called Italpress, and reprinted on Football Italia. Hard to confirm their authenticity, but if true, consider this bridge burned:

“What really hit me and forced me to take this decision was the fact the much-vaunted Anglo-Saxon sense of justice, as they are the first to claim that everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

“In Terry’s case, they gravely offended me and damaged my authority at the head of the England side, effectively creating a problem for the squad.

“I have never tolerated certain interference and crossing of lines, so it was easy for me to spot it and take my decision to leave.”

It must be stressed these remarks have not been confirmed as authentic. But they’re on a website, and this is a blog, so…

UPDATE: Late report that these remarks are indeed a pile of crap:

Capello denies quotes attributed to him on Italian website. Threatens legal action #pafabio

— Ben Rumsby (@benrumsbyPA) February 8, 2012

The MMA Show Podcast with Mauro Ranallo is back at it again with a stacked show featuring the latest and greatest in the world of mixed martial arts.

And remember, you can now watch a LIVE VIDEO STREAM! Click Here to WATCH LIVE The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo at 2pm EST.

The show will start off with Firas Zahabi, who will discuss the rumors that Georges St-Pierre may vacate his title to fight Nick Diaz and also what he’s heard about the whole Carlos Condit/Diaz/St-Pierre saga.

Ranallo will be joined by UFC on FUEL TV 1 headliner Dave Herman, who will talk about his co-main event fight against Stefan Struve and how life has been in the UFC thus far.

We will then welcome Yves Edwards, who signed on the dotted line last night to fight Donald Cerrone at the UFC on FOX 3 event.

Mike Winkeljohn will then stop by as well to talk about Cerrone’s fight and the whole situation with Condit.

And the fun doesn’t stop there as Brandon Vera will join Ranallo to talk about pulling out of the rematch with Thiago Silva and how is he doing both mentally and physically.

And finally, Brendan Schaub will talk about his UFC 145 fight against Ben Rothwell and Keith Kizer of the NSAC will talk about the two-point deduction from Saturday night.

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Luck undoubtedly plays a large role in sports. And before I look at a few good breaks that put the Giants in position to win the Super Bowl, I should note that, in terms of injuries, Big Blue was actually quite unlucky this year.

This is a team that lost a starting corner (Terrell Thomas) and starting middle linebacker (Jonathan Goff) before the season started. They also saw top draft pick Prince Amukamara go down for significant time, and second-round pick Marvin Austin never played a game. Goff’s backup, Clint Sintim, also missed the entire season, while they had to endure the midseason loss of starting left tackle Will Beatty. Oh, and receiver Domenik Hixon, who was expected to play a big role in the passing game, missed all but two games.

Call it karma, but the team’s bad fortune with injuries was balanced by some big breaks during the regular season.

This was, after all, a team that surrendered more points than it scored — the only 9-7 team to make the playoffs. But because their division was so weak, they got to host the Falcons on wild-card weekend, gaining a significant amount of momentum in a home victory over a team that is much better in the Georgia Dome than it is away.

The NFC East was terrible. The Eagles were a tremendous disappointment — if they had their stuff together and established chemistry earlier (in other words, if not for the lockout) they probably would have won the division easily. The Cowboys botched three games they had no business losing. The Redskins plummeted after a fast start — but even they were able to beat the Giants twice during the regular season. New York finished with a 3-3 record within a bad division, but still snuck into the playoffs…and actually got a home game to set the tone.

That’s break no. 1 (although you could argue that there were multiple breaks within that singular break).

For another one, let’s go back to Week 4, when the Giants barely survived against the Arizona Cardinals. Arizona had a 10-point lead with less than four minutes to play. Against a quasi-competent team, New York loses. But I won’t call playing a bad team a complete break. Where the break came is when a terrible ruling led to the game-winning score. Here’s how I explained it at the time:

Victor Cruz made a catch, fell to the turf, got up and dropped the ball. He was never touched. The “fumble” was recovered by the Cardinals, but the officials didn’t see it as a fumble, claiming instead that Cruz had “given himself up.” A play in which a player “gives himself up” isn’t subject to review (because it’s clearly a judgment call) and thus Ken Whisenhunt wasn’t able to challenge.

Manning hit Hakeem Nicks for six points on the next play and the Giants shut down Arizona on its final drive, moving to 3-1 and remaining in a first-place tie in the NFC East.

Watching the play, it’s hard to imagine that Cruz was giving himself up. Instead, it looked as though he stumbled and then tried to get up, assuming he’d been touched. I understand why referee Jerome Boger couldn’t review the call, but I can’t comprehend the call itself. Neither can former NFL officiating czar Mike Pereira, who thought the play should have been ruled a fumble. He noted on the game broadcast that the officials were essentially protecting Cruz “from his own stupidity.”

“We got a break on that one I think,” admitted Manning after the game. “I thought it was going to get ruled a fumble and I saw it pretty clear. I don’t know what the call was or why.”

Some said the victory deserved an asterisk. Without that play, the Giants might not have won. And without that win, they don’t make the playoffs.

OK, I’ve got another one for you. This time, the Giants trail the Cowboys 34-22 with less than four minutes remaining. And Dallas, at home, completely chokes. The Cowboys commit three penalties, go three-and-out with an inexplicable incomplete pass with the clock a factor, and have a game-tying field goal blocked. That block came after Dan Bailey had connected successfully, but that play had been blown dead due to a New York timeout. The freeze was successful.

I know, the Giants found a way to win, and you can’t blame them for the incompetency of their opponents, but they were extremely lucky to win both of those games.

And then there were the breaks the Giants got within the Super Bowl itself. If Tom Brady and Wes Welker don’t fail to connect on a wide-open pass in the final minutes (I’m refusing to call it a drop), the Giants probably lose. If Rob Gronkowski is healthy and able to box out Chase Blackburn on the game’s only interception, the Giants probably lose. And if the ball on that final Hail Mary bounces 24 inches to the right, the Giants lose.

It’s a game of inches, of being in the right place at the right time. That’s part of the Super Bowl equation on nearly an annual basis. The Giants deserved this title, of course. They got hot at the right time, and they found a way not to be the chokers like the Cardinals and the Cowboys. Brady and Welker failed to connect on that pass, but Manning and Mario Manningham found a way to make it happen on their big completion.

That’s what it is — a combination of good play, especially in clutch moments, and good fortune.

Get used to seeing this. Over and over again.

Typically used by hard-up fantasy players looking for an edge, the PECOTAs are the Cadillac of projections. Sure, none are foolproof and the entire concept rubs some people the wrong way (Man, they’re people man. Ballplayers aren’t just numbers, bro.) Nonetheless, they are at the very least interesting and, at the very worst, a good place to pick a fight over the lack of mathematical love extended towards your favorite player.

It seems that the average baseball fanatic is especially hard on the PECOTA rankings. Due in no small part to the aggressive marketing of the BP system (DEADLY ACCURATE! LIKE A SURGICAL STRIKE TO YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS), “haters” love pointing out the foibles of the system. Comparing every Latin American outfielder to Andrew Dawson or bullish/insane projections for quad-A sluggers like Kila Ka’aihue casts plenty of doubt on the system as a whole.

Which isn’t fair. These PEOCTA numbers — and all projection systems like them — provide a framework within which a reasonable expectation of a player’s future can be formed. It doesn’t make any of them gospel and all mathematical approaches aren’t going to yield the same results. Use these numbers as a jump off point, for both conversation and your devious fantasy planning. Because winning the Tao of Stieb’s Roto Hoedown is about more than bragging rights: it’s about honour.

Let’s look at some of the numbers Colin Wyers and his merry band of joyless robots spit out this time around. Starting with the most expensive offseason signings: Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder.

According to PECOTA, Albert Pujols is the best player in baseball. This isn’t exactly news but the amount by which he outpaces the second and third beset players (Evan Longoria and Miguel Cabrera) is noteworthy. Pujols checks in at 7.5 WARP (Wins Above Replacement Player, BP’s in-house version of WAR) while Longoria and Cabrera both project at 5.5 WARP. That two Win gap seems very large, does it not? Jose Bautista led MLB in WARP in 2011 with a hair over 10, less than 1 Win ahead of Matt Kemp.

Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols project to lead baseball in home runs with Mike Stanton (!!!) slotting in just behind them. Pujols, Miguel Caberea, and Prince lead in TAv, the BP branded metric scaled to batting average (as opposed to wOBA which in on an OBP scale.) Things don’t look so shabby for the Tigers, do they?

Justin Verlander checks in as the top pitcher, with CC Sabathia, Roy Halladay, Stephen Strasburg and Dan Haren rounding out the top five. PECOTA only sees 160 innings in Strasburg’s future, yet there he is with more than 5 WARP. HE MIGHT BE PRETTY GOOD, EH? Verlander and Lincecum rate as the best strikeout pitchers according to the system.

But now for the fun part: the comps! Who does PECOTA see in its twisted eye as a suitable comparison for your favorite player? The Albert Pujols comps are slightly bizarre, as he’s already a Hall of Fame caliber player. PECOTA likens him to…Brian Giles, Lance Berkman, and Todd Helton!

Left-handed hitting first baseman at the top of your game? YOU GET A NORM CASH. The former Tigers slugger serves as a comparable player for Joey Votto and Prince Fielder, not to mention Derrick Lee and Dan Johnson! Clearly Norm Cash rules everything around me.

The comps might break down for older players, but what about the young turks standing poised to dominate the baseball landscape for years to come? If your name is Mike Trout, you rest easy. Cesar Cedeno, Justin Upton, Ken Griffey? Sold! Wait, Cesar Cedeno? Right, the former Astros outfielder who broke in as a 19 year-old and enjoyed a 9 year run of 5 rWAR or more per season? That’ll do…

What about Canadian Jesus Brett Lawrie? While his raw PECOTA numbers aren’t too exciting (17 home runs, .756 OPS) his comparable players are a who’s who of guys who are good at baseball! David Wright, Travis Fryman, and Ryan Zimmerman? If you’re a Blue Jays fan and this isn’t good enough for you, I think you should rethink your whole life plan.

Stephen Strasburg’s comps run a little to close to the sado-masochist line for my liking. Mark Prior, Yovani Gallardo, Dwight Gooden? Like a famous man once said, it is better to burn out than play for the Brewers. Yovanni Gallardo’s comps are much weirder. Zack Greinke, Jered Weaver, and Max Scherzer? One of these is agreeable, to me anyway.

The BP folks put a ton of work into the PECOTA system and the subscription is worth it for these figures alone. Once they roll out onto the player pages, they get even more in depth and interesting. Happy digging!

It was only a week ago that Blake Griffin detonated an atomic bomb upon Kendrick Perkins’ goateed dome. It feels like much, much longer. Since then, we’ve had the Kevin Durant backlash, a t-shirt about the dunk and a season-ending injury to a valuable Clipper. It’s understandable that it seems like it happened way longer ago. A lot of stuff has gone down since then.

But people are still talking about it. Kendrick Perkins, for one. He’s still getting asked questions about it, so he’s answering. And among the things he’s talking about is how he doesn’t like LeBron James’ reaction. From Yahoo! Sports’ Marc J. Spears:

Several NBA players commented about the dunk on Twitter and in media interviews, but the only one that bothered Perkins was James.

Shortly after the dunk, James tweeted, “Dunk of the Year! @blakegriffin just dunked on Kendrick Perkins so hard!!! Wow! I guess I’m No. 2 now. Move over #6.” James was referring to his alley-oop dunk he threw down after jumping over Chicago Bulls guard John Lucas III a day earlier.

“You don’t see Kobe [Bryant] tweeting,” Perkins said. “You don’t see Michael Jordan tweeting. If you’re an elite player, plays like that don’t excite you. At the end of the day, the guys who are playing for the right reasons who are trying to win championships are not worrying about one play.

“They also are not tweeting about themselves talking about going down to No. 2. I just feel [James] is always looking for attention and he wants the world to like him.”

I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that this wins Kendrick Perkins a few fans. Nearly 10,000 NBA players tweeted about Blake Griffin’s dunk, but Kendrick Perkins singles out only LeBron James for scorn, then says he’s not playing for the right reasons and is desperate to be liked. The only way Perkins could be a bigger fan favorite is to be Kevin Durant.

It’s a very 1980′s mindset to call out one of a bunch of players as the one guy you’re mad at. This shows, pretty obviously, that Kendrick Perkins is not the biggest LeBron James fan on Earth. I’m of the opinion that this sort of thing is good for the league. A little enmity between the Thunder and Heat should they meet in the NBA Finals would be pretty great, so I wouldn’t mind this thinking permeating throughout the Oklahoma City locker room.

Even if this doesn’t start a full-scale blood feud betwixt these two teams, us fans are still going to be winners here. Reading this is sure to make LeBron want to dunk on Kendrick Perkins and Kendrick said, “If I was in the same position, in the same rotation, I’m going to jump again and again and again.”

The two teams meet March 25. I’m going to start prepping my LeBron dunk post tonight.

After the recent chaos that Tim Thomas heaped on himself by choosing to not attend The White House with the rest of his Boston Bruins teammates, one assumed he’d be avoiding anything that would make him the center of attention for awhile.

He didn’t help his cause in the wake of the incident by not defending his decision to not attend (instead choosing to post a single Facebook status and act like it never happened), but still…the circus was starting slowly leaving town.

He’s been playing fantastic hockey since, and many of us were remembering why we liked him so much in the first place: he’s a really awesome goalie, and a blast to watch play the position.

But today, he made the circus put on its brakes and turn around.

He’s welcome to believe in whatever politics he wants. He has the right to free speech. He can be of whatever religion he chooses. You’d just think he’d keep the focus on hockey, at least publicly, given how people reacted to his White House snub.

Here’s his latest Facebook status update:

For those of you who can’t read that:

Whatever that means to you, you still have to ask – why complicate your every day life as a hockey player?

If it’s because these are messages he wants to get out there and he’s passionate about politics, okay, fine. That can be who you are and we’ll respect that…but then you have to actually talk about politics and religion, and get the message out there.

This Facebook poli-bombing is going to drive me crazy if he doesn’t stand and speak up for what he believes. You’re either behind the message or you’re not.

Something about it reminds me of a person who’d post “I had the craziest day today,” to get people to ask them about it…then not tell them. If you want attention, stuff like this will do the trick.

If Tim Thomas wants to talk politics and religion, it’s time he do so from out behind the keyboard too.

(Stick-tap to @_TyAnderson for passing that along.)

Daniel Bryan’s self-centered attitude inside the ring may not be the one for kids to emulate, but nobody will disagree that his vehement dedication to the ethics of veganism outside of it is at least admirable.

The WWE’s World Heavyweight Champion was the recipient of PETA’s Libby Award, a fan-voted honor given to the most animal-friendly athlete. Recently, he has taken his plight to the airwaves, making a point of constantly reminding viewers that he is a staunch vegan, even going so far as to plead with the audience to not eat meat, and to hop on board with his diet.

“I’m stronger and healthier than ever, and I feel good about doing something positive for myself, animals, and the planet,” claimed Bryan in a PETA press release.

Bryan is certainly not the only high-level athlete operating on a plant-based diet. Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Chase Utley and Baltimore Ravens running back Willis McGahee were among other Libby Award candidates, and future NFL Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez has been “green” for many years.

But for a variety of reasons, very few athletes are full on vegans, meaning that they would not consume any animal products whatsoever. Some of those reasons are purely mathematical, as statistics suggest less than 1.5% of the American population is vegan, and meat products are by volume easier to find than their veggie alternatives. However, some are due to the fact that science isn’t all the way convinced that being a vegan is the path of least resistance to peak performance for an athlete. 

Dave Scott won six Ironman titles on a plant-based diet.

One of the first high-profile athletes to publicly declare the use of a plant-based diet was legendary triathlete Dave Scott. For the majority of his career, which included a record six Ironman titles, Scott strayed from meat and relied primarily on plants to fuel a caloric need of up to 6500 daily, due to a 35-40 hour exercise week.

“Back in the 80s, I think I gravitated from eating bologna sandwiches when I was in college. I said, well I don’t think this is very healthy, I think I should get rid of those,” remembers Scott, who is known in endurance sports circles simply as The Man.

While he admits to eating poultry over the holidays, and still ate dairy, Scott cut out beef entirely, and stuck to a plant-based diet up until 1992.

“I think from an overall health standpoint, it was a pretty good choice. My caveat on this is that I needed a lot of calories, because I was burning a lot of calories,” said Scott.  “At that time in the 80s, the craze was ‘you need carbohydrates,’ and you just need carbohydrates because that’s what your body uses. That’s what we were told, that’s what the athletes were told, and that’s what the information was available out there said. The science back in the 80s wasn’t very good. “

Sports nutritionists in the 80s weren’t concerned with where the carbohydrates came from, whether it was through Bryan’s declared favourite late-night snack of black liquorice or elsewhere, because knowledge of unrefined and refined carbohydrates was not yet prevalent.

The other popular theory was that the less fat you ate, the better off you’d be as an athlete. This led Scott to a less than 10% fat intake diet in order to get a leg up on rivals Mark Allen and Scott Tinley who weren’t quite as regimented in their culinary choices. Scott even went so far as to strain and rinse his cottage cheese at the suggestion of nutritionist Nathan Pritikin, something he jokingly says he’ll “go to his grave with.”

“I didn’t gravitate to the good polyunsaturated fat. I didn’t have avocados, I didn’t have coconut, I didn’t have a small amount of nuts. That was nonsense,” said Scott, who also has a degree in physiology.”I have that in my diet now. My diet is much healthier now than when I was on a vegetarian diet, primarily because I just had too many simple carbohyrates.”

The addition of avocados and nuts to his current diet is particularly important because of the protein they contain. This is something Bryan, who is in a profession demanding of muscle strength and resilient bones, must be acutely concentrated on when plotting his daily meals.

Vegans have plenty of options when it comes to protein-dense foods, including peanut butter, lentils, quinoa, and beans of all varieties.  All proteins are comprised of nitrogen, and based on the NNU scale (net nitrogen utilization), in layman’s terms, are measured on their efficiency and usefulness on a cellular level (building muscle, promoting hair growth).

The most well-known and popular protein source is tofu; a soy product often used to imitate meat products, or at least behave as“filler” in otherwise light meals.

According to Scott though, not only are there better options available, but tofu could be holding the athlete back. Particularly one who lands on his spine for a living more than 250 days a year.

“Soy yogurt, soy milk, soy ice cream, tofu, don’t buy them,” said Scott. “People think gee, if I have soy, it’ll help my calcium stores, it’ll help my bone density, it’ll help my electrolytes. And it’s really false. The soy actually negates the calcium absorption. Soy has phytoestrogens. It throws off men and women’s hormone levels. The amount of phytoestrogens is staggering in soy-based food. The unfermented ones, which are tempeh and miso and natto are the best ones. People should eat those.”

Tempeh in particular contains a whopping 41 grams of protein in just one cup, which is more than the common whey protein powder offers, even though it doesn’t turn into a chocolate or vanilla shake for the morning.

A recent blog on PETA’s official website quips “if anyone you know needs convincing that tofu scramble is the real breakfast of champions, you can remind him or her that vegan WWE superstar Daniel Bryan has been awarded the world heavyweight title. Then break a chair across his or her back just to get the point across.”

Non-vegans have the luxury of consuming eggs, which have a 50% NNU score, as opposed to relying purely on items such as beans, which score somewhere in the 20% range.

The Ironman master maintains that he does not disapprove of vegan diets, and finds them to be a healthy choice for most people. However for elite athletes, ethics aside, without the ability to devour protein and nutrient kings like cold-water fish and eggs, it takes vigorous effort and lots of supplements to get what they need to perform.

In addition to good supplements, which Scott says “everyone should take,” he suggests that vegan athletes such as Bryan sit down to meals such as a salad with almonds or walnuts, red bell peppers and broccoli topped with olive oil, and munch on a whole avocado as a snack.

“(Bryan) has really got to do his homework,” said Scott. “You have to be very diligent, if you’re an athlete, if you travel and have a stressful life, about getting good quality protein every day and at each meal. And also pre and post exercise if you can as well.”

By all accounts, Bryan is meticulous in his consumption of the right nutrients, but if he really wants to make sure he has his hand raised at Elimination Chamber, he might want to order a second helping of tempeh at his favourite vegan spot in Milwaukee.

And if you’re a Daniel Bryan fan and want to become a ripped 210 like him, maybe replace the popcorn with a bag of avocados while you watch the pay-per-view.

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Follow Corey Erdman on Twitter @corey_erdman 

As the Independent’s Jack Pitt Brooke tweeted:

Harry Redknapp started the day in the dock, and ends it on top of the (English) football world.

— Jack Pitt-Brooke (@JPBIndy) February 8, 2012

But let’s take a few minutes to contemplate the absurdity of the thing. Redknapp is by far the most popular choice. He’s English. He’s done superbly well in his time with Tottenham. And, that’s it.

But unless the FA is willing to allow Redknapp to somehow (how?) manage England as kind a ridiculous part time job at least until the end of the current Premier League season, I don’t see any way he’ll repay the faith of Tottenham supporters during his tax evasion trial by telling them to sod off while he manages the most over-hyped team in World Football. He could start in May, though.

So who else then? David Beckham? ALAN SHEARER!?! Good lord, maybe Capello might change his mind?

To hell with putting up a picture of a fighter, I’m putting up an OK Go video this morning.

If you don’t know why, keep readoing.

And here we go again, Carlos Condit has accepted a rematch against Nick Diaz. (MMA Fighting)

Georges St-Pierre may be willing to give up the welterweight title for a chance to fight Nick Diaz sooner. (MMA Bay)

The UFC has announced two more non pay-per-view events. UFC on FX 4 will take place in Atlantic City, NJ on June 22, while UFC on Fox 4 will take place on Aug. 4 in Los Angeles. (MMA Torch)

The UFC have signed a new sponsorship deal with Tapout, keeping them as their official “lifestyle” clothing brand. (Pro MMA Now)

Ronda Rousey says ring card girls are “talentless,” and that being an Olympian kind of sucks, because you’re broke all the time. (MixedMartialArts.com)

Donald Cerrone will fight Yves Edwards at UFC on Fuel 3. (MMA Weekly)

The UFC has announced their quarterly Twitter bonuses. Congratulations to Pat Barry, Nam Phan, Jake Ellenberger, Roy Nelson, and more for being great at the Internet. (MMA Payout)

Roger Gracie is on the verge of moving his training to Black House, and will likely drop down to middleweight. (Tatame)

Jorge Santiago, who was cut from the UFC back in October, starts his climb back to the big show with a fight against Leonardo Pecanha at Titan Fighting 21. (MMA Junkie)

Merely calling Chad Ochocinco’s first season in New England a poor year would be incredibly insulting to players who’ve had poor seasons. That label often sounds far worse than what it really is, and it’s typically reserved for players who still contributed, but their contributions fell far below their usual standards.

Tampa Bay’s Mike Williams had an poor year following his impressive rookie season, but he still had 771 receiving yards, and averaged 48.2 per game.

Two years ago Carolina’s Steve Smith had what could be deemed a poor year when his receiving yardage descended to 982 after his 1,421 in 2008.

Ochocinco didn’t just perform poorly, or under-produce for his standards. He was an irrelevant afterthought.

His non-existence this year and disappearance is well documented, but let’s review it one more time so the year-end numbers of a player who was once considered an elite receiver are firmly ingrained. Including the playoffs, Ochocinco was dressed for 17 games, and he was benched for the AFC Championship game against Baltimore. In those games, he had only 16 receptions for 297 yards.

His previous career low was 540 yards during an injury-shortened season in 2008 (he played in 13 games), and over an 11-year career he’s had only four sub-1,000 yard years. He’s also averaged 66.6 yards per game throughout his career, and only had 18.4 in 2011. For the most haunting contrast between the once quick and agile Chad Johnson to the now slow and sluggish Chad Ochocinco we can look to Week 10 of 2006, when he had 260 yards against San Diego. In one game, that’s only 37 yards short of his total this year.

Ochocinco’s 2011 stats reflect a receiver who was deemed useless, because he was barely glanced at let alone targeted in the Patriots’ offense. So consider this a post-mortem on a season that could easily turn into a post-mortem on a career, with Ocho’s professional football life ending when he’s cut some time this spring or summer, and then given the Randy Moss/Terrell Owens treatment. That possibility isn’t just very real, it’s very likely.

Look at those numbers again. Then look at some generic page ranking the league’s passing offenses. Now, keep using that deductive reasoning, and think about a place where a rapidly declining receiver could be useful, perhaps to help a rebuilding team with either a young receiving corps, or a young quarterback.

Anything?

It’s remarkable that Ochocinco lasted the entire season on the Patriots’ roster despite demonstrating an obvious inability to do what he was acquired to do: stretch the field deep from the wide receiver position. When that inability became clear, Bill Belichick accelerated his shift to the duel tight end system, and any wideout not named Branch or Welker was ignored.

Ochocinco is now slated to make $3 million in each of the next two years over the final seasons of a contract that will end when he’s 36. That means he’ll have the fourth largest base salary on New England’s roster, and without agreeing to a massive pay cut there’s no conceivable way he’ll retain a roster spot.

Nick Underhill of Masslive.com agrees, noting that although the Patriots led the league with 72 completions of 20 yards or more, only 23 of those passes traveled the entire 20 yards through the air. Wes Welker is a free agent and could be franchised, and Deion Branch is taking a cannonball into the free agency pool too, although he hopes to remain in Foxboro.

There’s still a need for a deep presence out wide where Ochocinco failed, and the answer could be the most coveted free agent on the market this offseason.

His name is Brandon Lloyd, and he’s quite familiar with new Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels after playing for him in Denver and St. Louis. As the Broncos head coach, McDaniels rejuvenated Lloyd’s career after he had languished for seven seasons. Lloyd had 1,448 receiving yards in 2010 under McDaniels, and prior to that he averaged just 338.6 yards per year.

In late December while contemplating his next move, Lloyd couldn’t hide his desire to follow McDaniels wherever he goes.

“I can’t even lie about that. I’m tied to McDaniels. He uses me differently than other offensive coordinators used me in my entire career. He uses me as an every-play receiver. The short game, mid-range game, gimmick passes, deep balls.

“I do everything in this offense as opposed to other coordinators who would just run me off as the deep guy; run me off into double coverage and then say I’m not open. So I really like how Josh uses me within the offense. I’m extremely comfortable in the offense.

Lloyd isn’t young (he’s 30), but he’s still four years younger than Ochocinco. That means younger legs, a body that hasn’t absorbed nearly as much pounding, and likely a few more years of high-level production before the late-career drop off begins.

Lloyd has flare and familiarity, while Ochocinco now has little more than age.

New York's Lou Gehrig shaking hands with Boston Braves outfielder Babe Ruth, 1935

Say the name of any legendary baseball player and the team they played for instantly comes to mind… Yogi Berra? New York Yankees. Hank Aaron? The Braves. Harmon Killebrew? Minnesota Twins.

The image of most of these legends are so strongly associated with a single team that the idea of them playing elsewhere isn’t even considered.  But it happens.  In fact the three players mentioned above – Berra, Aaron, Killebrew – all ended their careers playing for another franchise.

Crazy thought, isn’t it?

They’re not alone, some of the biggest names in baseball history had a season or two playing in an unfamiliar big league uniform, in this weeks article I’ll be taking a look at some of the game’s best ballplayers playing in the “wrong” uniforms.

We’ll start things off with “The Babe”…

Babe Ruth, Boston Braves (1935)

Babe Ruth is forever linked to the New York Yankees, that’s just the way it is and the way it always will be.  We all know he started off his playing career as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and how he was sold to the Yankees just in time to become the greatest home run hitter of all-time.  But baseball didn’t end with the Yankees for the Babe.  After being released by the Yanks just prior to the 1935 season Ruth signed on with the Boston Braves with hopes of one day managing the club.  On May 25, 1935 just a week before retiring as a player, Ruth smacked three home runs in one game for the Braves, his last three homers as a big leaguer.

Babe Ruth as a first base coach for the Brooklyn Dodgers, 1938

In 1938 Babe signed on to be the first base coach of the Brooklyn Dodgers in a last-ditch effort to become a Major League manager, when it was obvious it wasn’t going to happen Ruth left the big leagues for good.

Willie Mays, New York Mets (1972-73)

New York Mets outfielder Willie Mays, 1973

“Say Hey” Willie Mays played 21 seasons with the New York/San Francisco Giants clubbing an astounding 646 home runs with the franchise before being traded a month into the 1972 season back to New York to join the Mets.  Over his one-and-a-half seasons with the Mets, Mays didn’t play his best baseball, hitting .238 with 14 home runs over 135 games. Willie hung the cleats up after his 1973 season with New York at the age of 42.

Ty Cobb, Philadelphia Athletics (1927-28)

Ty Cobb, Philadelphia Athletics 1928

Sure, everyone remembers Ty Cobb in his days with the Detroit Tigers, but do you remember where were you when you heard that he signed on with the Philadelphia Athletics? The Georgia Peach spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers before joining the A’s, and despite being in his forties was still a productive hitter.  While with the Athletics in 1927, Cobb collected his 4000th career hit – an achievement only one other player has matched in the several decades since (the other player also achieving this feat in a “wrong uniform”, you’ll see later).  Cobb retired after the 1928 season following a season in which he had his worst batting average in over 20 years, finishing with a .323 mark.

Hank Aaron, Milwaukee Brewers (1975-76)

Milwaukee Brewers DH Hank Aaron salutes the crowd, 1976

Henry Aaron began his Major League career as an outfielder for the Milwaukee Braves in 1954… 21 seasons, 733(!) home runs, and a franchise shift to Atlanta later and good old Hank missed playing up in The Dairy State… plus the idea of being a designated hitter didn’t seem so bad either.  On November 2, 1974 the Atlanta Braves shipped Hammerin’ Hank back to Milwaukee, this time to join the relatively new Brewers team.  Aaron spent 2 seasons with the Brewers, appearing in 222 games and hitting 22 home runs, deuces were runnin’ wild!  Aaron retired after the 1976 season having amassed 755 career home runs, a Major League record at the time.

Ted Williams, Washington Senators/Texas Rangers (1969-72)

Ted Williams as the manager of the Texas Rangers in 1972

No, Ted Williams never played for a team other than the Boston Red Sox, but the Splendid Splinter did wear the uniform of the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers for four seasons as their manager following his retirement from the Sox in 1960.  In his first season as manager, Ted guided the Senators to a respectable 86-76 record, but it was all downhill from there.  The Senators relocated to the Dallas area for 1972 and the Williams-led Rangers finished dead last in the AL West with a record of 54-100, that was it for Ted – he never suited up in a big league uniform ever again.

Yogi Berra, New York Mets (1965)

Yogi Berra at the plate as a member of the New York Mets in 1965

Yogi took over as manager of the New York Yankees in 1964 following an 18 year stint as their everyday catcher, despite leading the Yanks to the seventh game of the World Series in his only season as their manager he was fired following the season for a perceived loss of control of the club.  The Mets seized this opportunity and hired Berra to be a player-coach.  Berra appeared in only four games as a player for the Mets collecting 2 base hits in 9 at bats before retiring to focus on his coaching duties.

As a Houston Astros bench coach in 1986, Yogi Berra sports the classic "rainbow guts"

Berra spent the next 7 seasons as a Mets coach before the unexpected death of manager Gil Hodges in 1972 gave Berra another shot at managing a Major League club.  Under Berra the Mets would go on to win the NL Pennant in 1973 but were a disappointment every other year.  Berra would go back to coaching following his firing from the Mets in 1975 when he re-joined the Yankees eventually becoming their manager for a season+16 games from 1984-85.  Yogi joined the Astros as a bench coach for 1986 where he remained until he retired from baseball in 1989.

Pete Rose, Montreal Expos (1984)

Pete Rose wearing the powder blues of the Montreal Expos in 1984

Coming off an impressive 21-season stretch with the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies, which included 6 World Series appearances, 16 All-Star Game selections and over 3900 hits, Pete Rose dusted off his passport and headed north signing as a free agent with the Montreal Expos before the 1984 season.  Pete collected 72 hits in his 95 games played with the Expos, none of them more famous than his 4000th career hit, joining Philadelphia’s Ty Cobb as the only other player to achieve that mark.  After only half-a-season the Expos traded Rose to the Cincinnati Reds where he would act as baseball’s final player-manager for three seasons before retiring to focus on managing and gambling for the remainder of his career.

After his lifetime banishment from baseball in 1989 Pete opened a restaurant in Boca Raton, Florida, where in 1996 he refused to autograph a photo for an 11-year-old straight-A student named Chris Creamer, just terrible.

Harmon Killebrew, Kansas City Royals (1975)

Harmon Killebrew with the Kansas City Royals in 1975

This one still seems strange to me, Harmon Killebrew as a Kansas City Royal?  It happened, albiet it didn’t last long. After 21-seasons of smacking over 550 home runs with the Minnesota Twins franchise, Killer signed up for a one-year deal to be Kansas City’s designated hitter in 1975.  The results weren’t the prettiest, Killebrew ended up hitting only .199 on the season with 14 home runs and 44 runs batted in.  The Royals released Harmon following the season and he retired, joining the Twins as a colour commentator for the 1976 season.

Jose Bautista, Baltimore Orioles-Tampa Bay Devil Rays-Kansas City Royals (2004)

Jose Bautista with Kansas City and Baltimore during his journey 'round baseball in 2004

Certainly not a legend like those mentioned above, I had to throw a current player into the mix.  Jose Bautista had a very interesting debut year in the Major Leagues back in 2004.  Entering the off-season as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Jose was selected by the Baltimore Orioles from the Pirates in the Rule 5 draft.  After 16 games with the Orioles, the Kansas City Royals plucked Jose away via waivers.  Thirteen games later and the Royals had sold Bautista to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Twelve games with the Rays and they had traded him to the New York Mets. The Mets being the Mets wasted no time and dealt Bautista within hours, sending Jose back to the team he started the off-season with, the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he was able to remain for the next 4 seasons.

I’ll continue the wrong-uniform fun next week, check back next Wednesday to see more photos and read some more stories.

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Check out Chris’s sports logo and uniform website at SportsLogos.Net, or follow him on Twitter at @sportslogosnet